Dead: Shazam!, Fright Night, Ender’s Game

Various projects that have been circling Hollywood for sometime now seem to be dead. It’s possible that they may start up again in different incarnations but for now they’re lifeless.

First, Screenwriter John August has revealed over on his official blog that Shazam!, the big-screen adaptation of the DC comic, is no longer happening. August had been working on the film since 2007 and cites the trouble with New Line Cinema and the WGA strike for its demise.

Director Peter Segal (Get Smart) and Dwayne Johnson were at one point interested in the project. You can read August’s full rundown of what happened here.

The remake of the horror flick Fright Night is also no longer happening. According to the folks over at Shock Till You Drop the proposed update to the 1985 Tom Holland film, about a teenager who learns that his next door neighbor is a vampire, has been abandoned after a few cracks at the script yielded unsuccessful results.

And finally, from the L.A. Times comes word that Ender’s Game, a project that has been stuck in development hell for many years, will be resting there for a few more. Peter Weir (The Perfect Storm, Troy) was the most recent name attached to direct the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s award winning sci-fi novel, but according to the Times Card did not feel comfortable with the movie’s direction. The project was scrapped in early November.